Showing posts with label Zia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zia. Show all posts

Monday, May 26, 2014

On Freedoms And Memories Of Another Day On Memorial Day - IMRAN™

I was still a final year student at University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore, Pakistan) when Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, the owner of the media empire in this NY Times story ( http://j.mp/1r9rVO6 ), invited me to work directly for him. I was 22 then. 

 

I had met him a few times before, mostly as a student leader leading protest marches into his office when Jang, the leading Pakistan newspaper but that would cave in and give greater coverage to the Taliban cousins Jamate-Islami fundamentalists party. So it was an ironic twist to become one of his key people. 

 

He originally invited me to write on a Youth page but in my first day visiting his office I saw how IBM people in Pakistan were about to rip him off by selling electric typewriters with changeable font balls as "desktop publishing systems". I made a comment about that. 

 

Yes, I always spoke my mind regardless of the "stature" of the people in the room and continue to do so. 

 

Shakil didn't sign the contract and immediately said, forget the youth page, I want you to sit with me here every day and advise me on anything you want. He had the foresight to see that my vision of technology changing media changing society changing the world was the missing piece in his media/society part of the equation. 

 

I learned a lot of lessons from him, 90% of them good, and just 10% of them disappointments. That is a pretty amazing ratio in a world full of us imperfect people. And I am sure there have been times I must have disappointed him too. But I consider him one of the best teachers in my life besides my parents. 

 

He did his best to dissuade me from going to Columbia Business School on a full scholarship, saying I would learn so much more as his right hand man. I have no doubt that would have been true, but I am glad I left. Yes, it would have been an amazing journey with Shakil, but I would still be an employee of a tycoon. I am blessed and grateful for all that life has brought my way on my own. 

 

Our friendship continued over the last 25 years I spent in America. I literally flew in on a PIA flight carrying several thousands pounds of equipment for the well known News International which I was involved in the launch of. I literally flew in minutes before the newspaper went to press.

 

Shakil left the press building even as plates for the very first copies of the paper were being mounted onto presses. Even though it was a lifetime dream of his family coming true, he drove from the Jang Karachi building to the airport to personally receive me inside the terminal and then drove me to the press with him to see the very first copies of the newspaper roll off the press. I always honor him for how he has always honored me over the years.

 

Though we are not related at all, we used to look alike a bit. (Maybe the prominent nose LOL). He always treated me like a younger brother he did not have (unless I happened to ask for a raise LOL). And he would always laugh when I would affectionately mimic his distinctive manner and style of speaking. 

 

One day we were in his magnificent office on the top floor of the Jang Building in Lahore when I did my impression of him. He was laughing out loud when his assistant (Fayyaz) said a well known but obnoxious person (son of a national leader), who had not personally met Shakil before, was there to visit. 

 

Like in a comedy movie, Shakil thought my impression was so great I should meet that obnoxious person acting as Shakil and Shakil would become Imran. We both moved to the "drawing room" part of the office when the guest came in. And I have to say, I was so flawless in doing my Shakil impression the guest (who had spoken to MSR before on the phone) had no clue what happened. Shakil and I had to do everything in our power not to crack up laughing. We did not do that again, but I remember that and many other adventures, mid-day or midnight, that we shared with love, trust and affection.  

 

Though Shakil and I do not get time to speak regularly now, I still consider him one of the smartest, most forward looking businessmen in the world. Yes, Jang, and the GEO channel, are brilliant commercial media organizations. But not once did I ever see action or hear any words come out of the mouth of Shakil (or his late father the great Mir Khalil ur Rehman, brother Javed, or his brilliant sons or daughters) that would ever be remotely considered anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam. 

 

I laugh at former Playboy, by now probably Viagra-needing pro-fundamentalists, like Imran Khan (whom I once admired) and others making accusations against Shakil. It amazes me how many dumb idiots, especially on Twitter and FaceBook (places they exercise right to free speech), foaming at the mouth about wanting to have GEO shut down. 

 

They do not know what it is like not to have these basic freedoms of expression. They do not know how to exercise the freedom of switching the channel if they do not like something. They want things to be exactly how they want them or to be shut down.

 

These idiots did not serve in newsrooms that were raided by scummy crooked military officers of evil dictator General Zia's regime to rip out stories being put in the next day's paper. They did not know journalists whose fingernails were ripped out by "security services" as we knew.  They did not get court-martialed as an engineering student leader for leading marches against the military regime as I did.

 

They did not fall sleep on the floors of newspaper press buildings at 4AM to make sure nothing kept the presses from running. Shakil did, and I was proud to have been next to him in those times. 

 

Long live democracy, freedom of speech, and a free Press, in Pakistan as well as USA. 

 

And long live my friend Shakil and his family.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Made In Japan. Self-Destruction In Pakistan. What A Shame! Will YOU Not Think?

by Imran Anwar

A friend of mine in Pakistan emailed me some photographs of the Japanese cities destroyed by American Atomic Bombs, and how they have risen from the ashes in 60 years.


It was so ironic to see that and compare Pakistan and Japan, and see how two nations of intelligent hard-working people took such divergent paths, over the same course of time and turmoil....


From 1947 to about 1967 Pakistan started rising from the heartbreak of partition to a somewhat economically developing nation. We had greater prosperity than the masses of India and better GDP than even South Korea.


We then spent most of the 1967-1977 period dismantling our economy - with civil war, defeat and then nationalization.


From 1977 to about 1987, thanks to the (CIA-driven dictator) General Zia-driven funding of fundamentalist ideologies, we saw Pakistan start a mental and social regression, which would make even Iranian clerics scratch their turbaned heads.


In the 20-years period of 1987-2007 (until today, so to speak) we have seen Pakistan brought to the brink of self-destruction. With money for missiles and nuclear weapons, Pakistan has no money or common sense to have invested in power generation to meet its own needs since several decades.


Forget industrial development, or even competing with other evolving economies in areas like software, and technology.

Despite constant load-shedding only the Conspiracy Factory of Pakistan continues to operate at peak capacity.


Even America ran out of ideas on conspiracies after the Moon Landing Hoax, Kennedy Assassination and Jimmy Hoffa conspiracies. Pakistan is the world's leading producer now. The best new conspiracies have Made in Pakistan engraved on them, while Made In Japan is now written on only the highest quality advanced technology products.


With our silent acquiescence, sitting in our air-conditioned (except for load-shedding hours) homes, we make the usual tccch-tcch sounds of afsos and regret, then do our bit to contribute to the manufacture of new conspiracy theories — while the stinking, unwashed, jihadi terrorists, murderous Jahilan-AlQatlian kill fellow Muslims and Pakistanis every day.


But, instead of recognizing the deadly cancer that grows in the midst of every major national organ (and organization), and dealing with that deadly disease, even supposedly intelligent, educated and professional Pakistanis see an American or Jewish conspiracy in everything. Instead of aggressively targeting the supporters of the Taliban and AlQaeda, who are now entrenched in mosques and madrassahs even in major cities, not just the stone-age rocky villages of the Northern territories, Pakistanis simply live by "Blame America, Wait For Allah".


We expect Allah to either press the Undo button or automagically fix everything. Pakistanis have mastered the fine art of tea-trolley discussions on whom to blame. They have elevated to a science the creation of Unified Theories of Conspiracy that would baffle even Einstein and confound Prof. Abdus Salam.


People now increasingly talk about the centuries old glory days of Muslims, instead of acting for a brighter future of Pakistan. They pontificate about how wonderful the Khalifas were, as if a Political-Religious Messiah can be divined from tea leaves in Fine China cups, to bring us bright eyed sunshine-filled futures.


And, all they think they need to do is hold tea parties - and attend Friday prayers once in a while - for this magic to happen.

Instead, all these people need to wake up and smell the coffee. Instead of a revival of a theoretical Ottoman Caliphate, we are becoming the Ostrich Caliphate of Pakistan. We run, as gracelessly as that creature, towards our own destruction - but only when we do not have our heads stuck in the sands of time and a romanticized history.


Forget history, damn the future, we can't even be certain of our todays, much less our tomorrows. We have jihadis, most funded by fellow Muslims and Pakistanis, killing our own soldiers, blowing up our women and children.


It is no secret that AlQaeda and the Taliban want to steal Pakistan's nuclear weapons. I suspect many Pakistanis probably secretly harbor a silent approval for the theft of one nuclear device. They secretly hope for such a device to somehow be used to "punish" all those they hold responsible for their own failures - as they successfully craft conspiracy theories. They mentally paint targets on Washington, New York, Tel Aviv, New Delhi.

"Ah," such people think, "if only 'they' can be blown up, all of Pakistan's problems would be fixed and the Muslim Ummah would shine again."


But, people, THINK about it.


Even if the jihadis were to succeed in grabbing one nuclear device, the likelihood of their "Islamic Bomb" getting to the USA, or even Israel, is 0.000000001%.


Wake up and do the Math. That means there is 99.999999999% likelihood they would detonate a device within Pakistan, in a major city...... One can only imagine what a nuclear explosion in a Pakistani city would do to a nation already on the brink of tearing itself apart at the seams. Maybe that is what Pakistanis secretly want? A full hard reboot of the system.


Maybe they look at Japan. It was destroyed and in far worse shape in 1945 than Pakistan was in 1947. Yet, see the path it took — from two nuclear bombs annihilating entire cities, military occupation, subjugation, war tribunals killing off the entire former leadership, and worse...


See below how incredibly Japan, ironically a nation big on suicides, chose to live on, to shine and rise from the ashes.... while Pakistanis silently witness a collective national suicide, at the hands of Muslim suicide-murderers, killing in the name of Islam.


We watch fellow Muslims trigger bomb timers, lighting fuses of death. We see Pakistanis' psyche smoldering, a rage fueled by the ugly, bearded hoards of semi-literate mullahs whom we can't even get to shut off their loudspeakers at 3AM for fear of a fatwa against us. We watch, every day, our cities exploding and Pakistan's future going down in flames...


And, still, collectively we all immediately blame anyone, anyone, but our own internal demons, our own created beasts, and worse, far worse, our own reality-avoiding selves.


What a shame, what a shame, what a shame....


I think it is time to think.... Afa'laa tataa'fakka'roon..... "Will You Not Think?"


IMRAN

PS I could not find the actual site or blog these photos came from, so they are produced here for appreciation. If you own these pictures, kindly let me know so I can attribute you for these stunning photos and link to your blog or album. Thank you.


======
Begin forwarded message:

From: Irfan R
To: IMRAN

!!!!!! When there is a will, there is a way !!!!!!!!

HIROSHIMA 64 YRS LATER...
Hiroshima , Nagasaki 1945

image001.jpg
image002.jpg

image003.jpg

We all know that Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were destroyed in August 1945 after explosion of atomic bombs.

However we know less about the progress
made by the people of that land during the
past 62 years.

Here are some photos...

HIROSHIMA THE COLORFUL CITY


Now

image004.jpg



image005.jpg

image006.jpg
image007.jpg
image008.jpg
image009.jpg
image010.jpg
image011.jpg
image012.jpg
image013.jpg


Hard to believe isn't it???

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

It's Terrorists Killing Pakistanis; Muslims, Christians & Ahmadis

I came upon an article by a Bruce Walker, at The New American web site. It was titled "Lahore, Pakistan: Muslims Killing Muslims."

I regret that article is quite misleading and using flawed "logic" to give the writer a chance to bash Islam. The writer's lack of understanding Islam is also obvious and his intellectual pretense quite exposed.

As a Pakistani Muslim, as a student leader at UET Lahore nearly 30 years ago, and now as an American citizen, I consider Ahmadis as Pakistani as me, if not more. (e.g. if they do not have dual citizenship like me).

However, even as a liberal Muslim, I am sorry to say this, but Ahmadis are not practicing Islam. That, however, does not make their citizenship of Pakistan, and right to a safe life there, any less than mine or yours.

A basic tenet of Islam is that Muhammad PBUH was the last Prophet. Ahmadis follow a man as a PROPHET who came and went without being a blip on humankind's radar.

That in itself shows that they are merely a cult that, despite their religious beliefs, has done quite well in Pakistan, and in spite of being officially designated non-Muslims. They generally fare better than Christians and Hindus in Pakistan, socially and economically.

Yes, there are shameful acts of violence against them, but sadly, not more but less than attacks against all of Pakistan in general.

Far more Sunni Muslims (and Shias) have been massacred by the evil AlQaeda and murderous stone-age Taliban than Ahmadis or Hindus or Christians combined. Writers like this article's author conveniently ignore that fact in jumping on every opportunity to malign Islam.

The Ahmadis call themselves Muslims and 4 million of them thrive in Pakistan. Though I am sure they would not be openly attacked or killed, as happened in the recent Lahore incident, I wonder how well Jews or Christians, especially in places with high concentrations of fundamentalist Christians or Jews, would accept a similar group.

Would Jews and Christians welcome a new cult announcing it was practicing Judaism or Christianity but following, say, Adolf Hitler or Stalin as their Prophet and the Messiah? Would Jews and Christians not call the cult as abhorrent to their basic religions if its basic premise was completely contrary to the most fundamental tenet of their religion?

Would they call its leader a heretic or a lunatic - or would they also fall on their knees to revere him as "the providential figure believed by Christians, Jews, and Muslims to return and foretell the end of the world, as well as being a preordained figure in Hinduism, the Bahaism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism" as the article stupidly, and disingenuously, refers to the Ahmadi cult's leader as?

Probably not!

So, remember, a terror attack that killed Ahmadis in this case, followed by an attack on a hospital that killed ordinary Pakistani Muslims indiscriminately, is a continuation of random bombing murders of Muslims in Pakistan, Iraq, and other countries.

It is an act of evil by a political-power seeking gang of zealots the CIA and the USA helped the dictator General Zia create 30 years ago, not some common form of Islam.

But, it is easy for people like Bruce Walker to sit in their cozy dens, seemingly smartly but intellectually falsely, bashing Islam - by making it sound like he's speaking for the betterment of Muslims. If only he was not ignoring the simple tragic violent fact...

It's Terrorists Killing Pakistanis; Muslims, Shias, Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis — either in random or specific attacks. AlQaeda and Taliban represent Islam as much as the Nazis exterminating Jews like rodents were representing Christianity (even though the historic fact of the Christian Church's role in that is well known).

So, those looking to bash all of Islam and all of Muslims for the actions of a few evil murderers (who kill Muslims daily!), remember, it works both ways.

AlQaeda is as representative of Islam as the Nazis were of Christianity or Hitler represented Prophet Jesus, or as the murderous blood-thristy Zionist Israelis massacring Palestinians represent Prophet Moses.

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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Pakistan Democracy: The Long March, The First Step

What a difference a day makes. What an even bigger difference a week can make.

What an amazing and exciting week this has been for Pakistan as a nation. Its elected leaders had just recently squandered a historic opportunity to set Pakistan boldly and directly on the path to institution and nation building.

On more than one occasion, on TV and radio, I had compared Pakistan, as a nation and especially as a government, to the ship Titanic, except that this one had deliberately hit every iceberg it could find.

Just when it seemed that the current government in Islamabad had completely forgotten the lessons of history - of merely one year ago - something changed. It had appeared that the policies of Islamabad were surely and not so slowly pushing Pakistan in the direction of chaos and eventual return of martial law.

As someone who has told his share of lawyer jokes, for the last one year I have had nothing but praise and kudos for the barristers and attorneys of Pakistan. Theirs is a career dependent upon daily earnings, made from daily work outside the court houses of Pakistan. One could not have been imagined that profession as the consistent and unstoppable source of the year-long protest movement. What the lawyers of Pakistan carried out was doubly special, as they did it against not one but two tyrants within one year.

Besides self-inflicted wounds, almost exactly of the kind that General Musharraf suffered from, perhaps there was some hubris or misconception in Islamabad. Maybe there was a feeling that people in Pakistan have become immune to tyranny. Perhaps it was felt that when push comes to shove Pakistanis are so used to having people in power do what they please that nothing would come out as protest against any power grab carried out by Islamabad.

But just when it seemed that our ship PNS Titanic was headed straight into a minefield, surrounded by icebergs, in the midst of the perfect storm, the most amazing opposite perfect storm arose in response. The nation became a nation.

The Long March, as it was called, was the best example of a peaceful (at least by Pakistani standards) uprising by the people of Pakistan to have their way with an elected ruler trying to cling to, and expand, his power.

I was in Lahore in 1977 when it happened the last time. I remember driving past puddles of blood covered with ash in dozens and dozens of locations on The Mall where anti-PPP protesters had been killed by the government at that time. This time however, thankfully, the perfect storm that arose was one of common sense, decency, courage and people power.

In particular in addition to the lawyers of Pakistan, there are many people I, even as a New York-based Pakistani, want to give thanks to.
This includes Prime Minister Gilani for his understanding of which way the wind was blowing and helping President Zardari see some light. General Kayani must have had to fight the urge not to take over the government. It must have been difficult when the elected leaders were themselves creating a situation that was going to endanger not just law and order in Islamabad but bring chaos across the nation.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has grown in stature not just within Pakistan but also abroad. He is being praised for taking a stand on principle, showing patience and then being very statesmanlike in his response to broken promises from Islamabad. To then show courage and refuse house arrest to march upon Islamabad put him on a much higher level of leadership than he was at before.

Even the police officers who, after some "kaarwai", showed common sense and decency, either to resign or to let the protesters begin their march towards Islamabad, should be considered heroes of democracy. As most of my readers and fans know from my background, during my days at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, in the early 1980s,

I was a student leader and chief organizer of QSF. The Islami Jamiate Taliba, as well as its parent, the Jamate Islami, were considered the mortal enemies of liberal organizations like ours. They even murdered Anas Choudhry, a final year student member of QSF, the year I joined UET.

But, today, as during the previous year, I am happy to give credit to this party for its principled stand against tyranny and dictatorship.

I never thought it possible, but even a member of the very political party and inner circle of Islamabad, Ms. Sherry Rehman, deserves praise for her decency, courage - and good timing - in resigning her position. It can be argued that she did it because there were others interfering in her ministry rather than what the government was doing to the independent media. But I, and the people, still give credit for her resignation.

Many of these things would not have become possible had it not been for the courageous, first-time in the life of our nation, stand of the real Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Choudhry, and his fellow judges, who resigned under General Musharraf.

They stayed out of office and jobs, despite pressure, incentives and other tricks that governments have at their disposal in Islamabad. I will avoid passing comment on the people who sold out their souls to get the appointments that they got. But I hope that this new chapter in Pakistan's history will also be the time when we start naming our villains for future generations to remember and spit on the names of.

Another hero, an entire industry really, that is among the less respected professions around the world these days, including America, was the Pakistani media. I say this not as a member of the media but as a proud Pakistani American who was ashamed of the silent acquiescence of American media in George Bush and Dick Cheney's shameless rape of the American Constitution and human rights around the world.

American media cannot be shut down by any government. Yet the media here quietly let the Bush government do whatever it wanted.

The Pakistani government, through many of its Stone Age laws curtailing freedom of expression and press, can shut down almost any Pakistani media entity. The bigger they get in Pakistan, the more the government can squeeze them. Even as a teenager I know how many magazines Prime Minister Zulfiqar Bhutto, whom I then admired, shut down for being critical of his policies. Urdu Digest was one that frequently had to reappear under other names.

I was a member of the press in Pakistan when vile dictator General Zia-ul-Haq gave many journalists a taste of what a dictator can do. He had writers' nails pulled with pliers to make them stop criticizing him.

For the Pakistani media to have stood up, first to General Musharraf and then to the current Zardari government in Islamabad, at great risk and financial loss to themselves, is another element to celebrate in this great victory of the people. A lot of credit goes to GEO TV, Jang and many other media.

Lack of space and time prevent me from individually thanking every single group or individual, like Mr. Aitezaz Ahsan, who played a central role in this great turnaround. God bless you all, for being the new heroes of a new democracy that can still rise in our nation.

The long march may have been intended for Islamabad, but it may turn out to be something far more important.

The Long March may have become The First Step in a thousand-mile journey - to the true destiny of Pakistan - as a great, free, democratic society ready to take its place in history.

"Qadam Barhao Saathio, Qadam Barhao"

---

Imran Anwar is a New York and sometimes Florida based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com . You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Planned Drifting - A New Way Through Life

In Praise Of Planned Drifting
By Imran Anwar

In the 1980’s (saying it like that makes it sound even longer ago than it was), in Pakistan, I remember saying something in a newspaper or magazine interview about my philosophy of “Planned Drifting”. And almost 20 years later, when CNN profiled me their interviewer surprised me with his impressive research when he asked me on-air to explain what I mean by my trademark term. I’ll get to that in a second – or more.

Those were the days when I was attending the well known University of Engineering and Technology, in Lahore, Pakistan, for my B. Sc. Engineering (Electrical/Electronics) degree. Well, attending is not really the correct word – since after doing well in first year classes I fell into student politics for the next 3 years, standing against the evil of the Islami Jamiat Taliba (which was then a US/CIA-backed and financed part of the Jamate Islami religion-using hate-mongers seeking fundamentalist rule and even now supporters of the Taliban and AlQaeda).

Towards the end of my stay at the Engineering University (as it was also called) I had lost three years of my life wasted on student politics but with nothing achieved (because that evil, Islam-using, filthy, vile, repulsive, Constitution-breaking, corrupt, bigotry and hatred-spreading, Taliban-creating, US-backed dictator General Zia banned students’ unions just when it was my turn to run for President). I was then scampering to cover for my missed exams and classes (clearing “supplees” was the term many of my fellow alumni will recall being familiar with).

But, in what seems to be typical twists in my life and career, instead of hurrying up and getting into a stable (boring) life of an Electrical Engineer working for some Pakistani government department or some private sector company that overworks and underpays, I found myself Business Manager of Pakistan’s largest newspapers and magazines chain, Jang. A chance meeting at a close family friend’s wedding party led to a 22 minute chat, that led to my still being involved in the news and media business 22 years later.

So, where – you ask – is this whole discussion taking us, and what were you saying about “Planned Drifting™”. I am glad you remembered, and asked – you know, remembering my problem with remembering recent things.

I read a good article today on some web site --- either there are too many articles online (considering I already read about 30 today, in addition to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and a dozen or so magazines) or I am getting old (since I just read that piece online 2 hours ago) --- that I can’t remember.

But the topic was quite a good one. It was about how the writer is a workaholic and finally made time to go visit some friends in Florida and kick back a little bit. He wrote about the issue of how life is what happens when we are making plans for everything else --- or something to that effect. As I mentioned earlier, or at least I think I did, that memory loss can be a terrible thing, and that is a good thing to remember. If you can.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, or what I seem to recall is the topic.

I love making plans. I love getting things done. And, I hate the idea of making all these great plans only to be thrown off by changed circumstances, fate, markets, politics, people and... life. For a procrastinator that would be a great reason not to make plans at all and just lie back and enjoy life passing by. But, that would be too easy. People could think I am lazy, which, no matter how true it could be, is definitely not the impression any one of us wants others to have of us.

So, I came up with a solution to that problem. Instead of making plans – which require time and effort, and then finding changing circumstances throwing off those plans – which causes frustration and annoyance, I say, forget making plans.

But, didn’t I just say, I love making plans? You’re right and glad you remembered. Yes, I did.

I should clarify. You can ‘plan’ – as in aim for, hope or desire or actively dream and pursue - or you can make specific PLANS.

I have always lived by, and promoted (as seen on CNN :-) ) "Planned Drifting™".

Being a mariner (boater) and aviator (hobbyist pilot) I know drifting (usually sideways not in line with the original desired path or desired location to stop at) is the last thing one wants to do, either off course, or into shoals, or into the path of other traffic. But, planned drifting is a proactive, positive, and almost fully aligned with the original planned course or direction.

The approach is to know where you want to get, but instead of thinking of it as a straight line think of it like the cone of radar beam sweeping back and forth 20-30 degrees each way in front of a ship or plane checking hazards and weather. Planned drifting is knowing that even if life throws curves your way, or times and tides change, or fate blows in one windy event or another into your flight path, you can still succeed even though your “plans” may be completely left by the wayside.

You may drift slightly to the left or right of that ideal straight line that you thought you had charted out for your life, but even if you don’t get to what you thought was some specific location or point, you will still get to what life and fate may intend to be your final destination anyway. That would still be a great destination to get to, it would still be a great adventure and it would most definitely be a great journey regardless of where exactly you end up.

Planned Drifting™ is not about idling through life, or coasting, or gliding, or simply going with the flow. It needs more active involvement from you. It needs proactive thinking. It needs nimble and agile thinking. It needs a positive, open, frame of mind.

You give yourself a good general direction (vision), even some desired specific destination (goal), but don't get married to a particular course (plan) - which is most often the thing that will not turn out how we want it to be.

By the way, I remembered, the article I responded to was by Michael Hugos, on the CIO Blogs page at http://blogs.cio.com/life-is-what-happens-when-you-have-other-plans . Do plan to read it – unless you have other plans!

Happy Planned Drifting™.

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“Planned Drifting” is © and a ™ of Imran Anwar. IMRAN.COM.